OverwatchOverwatch Zarya Guide and Overview

The Russian strongwoman Aleksandra Zaryanova perfectly blends solo and team play. Known as Zarya for short, she can use her strength to carry an entire team on her back. Equipped with both self and ally bubbles, players can choose between a team-oriented playstyle and a selfish “all by myself” approach.

Zarya's high damage potential allows her to make up for a team with underperforming DPS. On the other hand, Zarya can use every bubble on vulnerable allies, thwarting enemy attacks and enabling her teammates to make big plays. As a Tank, Zarya has middle-of-the-pack damage mitigation and, depending on her energy generation, has either the highest or lowest DPS of any Tank.

TLDR

Playing As

• Build and maintain high energy by using Barriers on yourself only when actively attacking the enemy at closer ranges.
• Use your bubbles reactively to protect teammates rather than preemptively, prioritizing moments when allies are clearly under fire to maximize charge gain and impact.
• Cast Graviton Surge in coordination with your team’s follow-up ultimates or burst damage. Catching just one or two enemies is enough to win the fight.

Playing Against

• Force her to use bubbles early or inefficiently by threatening burst damage or dives, then momentarily disengaging.
• Play around her energy level. A high-energy Zarya is far more lethal, so respect her threat in fights and avoid extended duels when she has maximum charge.
• Avoid clumping together when she has Grav. Position where it's difficult for her to target you, or save defensive abilities to save yourself and teammates.

Strengths

Solo Carry Potential

Use bubbles selfishly to generate high charge and keep yourself alive until you reach 175 damage per second at 100% energy. A fully charged Zarya can melt every 250 HP hero in under 1.5 seconds! With that kind of damage potential, Zarya can always find a way to win. Furthermore, Zarya can save allies a good distance from her with Projected Barrier without having to give up her own position or aggression.

Mid-range Damage

Zarya excels in mid-range engagements (10 - 20m). When facing off against a close range heroes (Reinhardt, Reaper, etc), she can play at her maximum range just outside of their optimal ranges. Zarya doesn’t have to push up too far to put herself in range of pressuring enemies positioned behind their Tank. Secondary fire is also great for finishing off retreating enemies and its projectile speed is reliable at mid-range.

Survivability

The energy mechanics of Zarya bubbles force the enemy team to make quick decisions to try and destroy the barrier, thereby giving Zarya more energy, or wait out the full 2 seconds, giving her free rein to advance or retreat. These interactions can make it very difficult to eliminate Zarya. Additionally, the combination of shield health and the self-heal passive allow Zarya to hide behind cover briefly and quickly restore her health without the aid of Supports.

Weaknesses

Heavily Reliant On Maintaining High Energy

A low charge Zarya doesn’t threaten anyone and applies minimal pressure. When an enemy team avoids damaging bubbles and you get stuck at low energy with no cooldowns, you can’t really offer anything to your team until both bubbles come back up. A Tank being shot at by a low-energy Zarya can safely walk right past her and destroy her allies.

No Mobility and Weak Against Long Range Heroes

Enemies on the outskirts of a point, or on high ground areas are extremely difficult for Zarya to deal with. She can offer Projected Barrier to allies attacking these enemies but that’s about it. While a secondary fire jump can give a bit of extra vertical movement, it’s too short to give her access to most high ground areas.

A Couple Bad Bubbles Loses the Fight

Optimal bubble use is complex and the choice of what, when, where and who to bubble constantly changes throughout a match. Using a bubble on an ally you thought was in danger but wasn’t, leaves other allies completely vulnerable. Using bubble on one enemy ability leaves Zarya open to a different enemy ability. Getting caught wasting two bubbles in a row usually means that teamfight is lost and your team needs to reset.

Primary Fire: Particle Cannon

Tips for Particle Cannon

• Use the beam primarily against DPS and Supports when they are within range, and only commit to the enemy tank if no higher-value target is available.
• Play near the outer edge of your beam range to minimize incoming damage while maintaining pressure.
• The beam cannot be Deflected, absorbed by Defense Matrix or Kinetic Grasp, making it reliable into those heroes.

Secondary Fire: (Energy Grenades)

• Use secondary fire to pressure grouped enemies and build ultimate charge when targets are outside beam range.
• Weave secondary fire into your ammo cycle to maximize overall damage output, especially when finishing a clip.
• Secondary fire into melee provides Zarya's highest burst combo at close range.
• You can still fire a secondary projectile even if you have minimal ammo remaining.

[SHIFT]: Particle Barrier (Self Bubble)

Tips for Particle Barrier

• Use self-bubble reactively when you are actively taking damage or committing to space, rather than preemptively.
• Look to bubble moments of clear aggression—when you are the focus of enemy abilities or stepping forward to pressure.
• Avoid using self-bubble too early in neutral, as it leaves you vulnerable if the enemy re-engages while it is on cooldown.

[E]: Projected Barrier (Ally Bubble)

Tips for Projected Barrier

• Bubble teammates who are either under heavy pressure or committing to aggressive plays.
• Use Projected Barrier to enable dives, flanks, or frontline pushes that would otherwise be punished.
• Prioritize saving allies who are being collapsed on, as a well-timed bubble can completely swing a fight.

Bubble Management Philosophy

• Favor reactive bubbles over predictive ones, as responding to confirmed damage is more consistent than guessing enemy timing.
• Decide between early charge generation and disciplined cooldown cycling based on tempo—early bubbles build energy but slow the fight, while holding bubbles allows for stronger mid-fight reactions.
• Be mindful that both bubbles share a cooldown, so inefficient use of one limits your overall defensive flexibility.

[Q] Graviton Surge

Tips for Graviton Surge

• You do not need a massive multi-target ultimate to win a fight; securing a single high-value elimination is often enough.
• Track enemy counter-ultimates and mitigation tools such as Defense Matrix, Ice Wall, Transcendence, and Sound Barrier before committing.
• Use secondary fire to gauge projectile arc and range before throwing long-distance Gravitons.
• Graviton can attach to any surface, and suspending enemies slightly above the ground can make follow-up damage easier for your team.

Energy (Passive Mechanic)

Tips for Energy

• Damage absorbed by your barriers increases the damage of both primary and secondary fire.
• Energy decays if you are not mitigating damage, so maintain fight tempo to preserve high charge.
• High energy dramatically increases your threat level, so positioning and bubble timing should revolve around maintaining meaningful charge without overextending.

Minor Perks

Jump-Ups

• Best on maps with lots of high ground. Zarya normally struggles on these maps, but the extra jump height gives her more mobility options.

Spotter

• Extremely powerful for enabling your allies. Healing and granting a speed boost can turn your teammates into carries.

Major Perks

Extra Oomph

• Stops decay, and builds more overall energy than just taking damage. Great when the enemy team is smart and trying not to charge you up.

Energy Lance

• Best against brawly comps that play grouped up. Target the enemies behind and rotate to keep the front-most enemy in the beams path.

Best maps

Antarctic Peninsula

Zarya tends to do well on Control Maps since most do not favor long range fighting. On Antarctic Peninsula, Zarya's lack of mobility does not hinder her ability to get value. Zarya can almost always force fights to occur within her optimal range on each of the three objective points. The high ground areas on this map are also not outside of Zarya's effective range making her a great pick.

Rialto

• Although Rialto has a few areas with long line of sights, there is also a ton of cover for Zarya to play around. When advancing on defense, Zarya can push with Particle Barrier as she moves between cover to the next. Likewise on defense, when pressured or low on bubbles, most areas have nearby cover to hide behind before coming out to contest for space.

Lijiang Tower

• Similar to Antarctic Peninsula, the map architecture pairs well with Zarya's kit. The focus of fights are forced on to the point where Zarya is strongest. Graviton Surge is one of the best ults for clearing a control point considering multiple enemies tend to be grouped in one area while contesting.

Worst Maps

Hollywood

• Too many long sight lines and too much high ground covers every point of Hollywood for Zarya to be consistently useful. Does the enemy have an Ashe sitting back owning your team? Well Zarya literally just has to watch it happen and try to outplay the enemies frontline.

New Queen Street

• For Zarya to be effective, she can’t really ever be on the robot. New Queen Street is one of the most open maps in OW2. At virtually every part of the map, the entire enemy team can position themselves outside of Zarya's range. If she plays way up on the enemy, she leaves her backline exposed on the objective. The fights end up happening on two separate fronts and require your team to win two fights simultaneously.

Suravasa

• The Flashpoint map Suravasa has too much ground to cover for Zarya. The points are so spread out that the enemy team will almost always get an advantageous position before Zarya arrives. The objectives are also so exposed that Zarya has to rely on her self bubbles to stay alive and struggles to use cover when pressured.

Zarya can work well in both brawl comps and dive comps, but struggles with and against poke comps.

Brawl comps built around Zarya have primarily close range heroes who move together, try to survive poke damage, and move to force only close range engagements.

Example of a strong Zarya brawl comp

Zarya, Mei, Reaper, Lúcio, Moira

Dive Comps with Zarya will have multiple DPS or Support allies going for aggressive plays on the enemy backline. Zarya has one of two roles in dive comps. Primarily to bubble her aggressive allies, shielding them from crowd control abilities and giving them the extra 225 HP. The other way she enables her diving allies is by maintaining her own survivability. Using cover and self bubbles allows the rest of your team's resources to be dedicated to the dive engagements instead of having to keep Zarya alive.

Example of a strong Zarya dive comp

Zarya, Genji, Tracer, Kiriko, Ana

Individual synergies with other heroes

Genji

• Aside from a Nano Boost, Projected Barrier is the best ability a Genji player can be given. Genji wants to be deep behind enemy lines and wreak havoc. He is weak to crowd control and landing any of the many CC abilities on Genji usually means his death. Projected Barrier grants temporary invulnerability to CC, making Genji very hard for the enemy to deal with. A Bubble on a Dragonblade almost guarantees at least one elimination.

Hanzo

• The classic “Grav Dragon” remains one of the best ultimate combos to this day. The only real counter to Grav Dragon is Zenyatta's Transcendence, but that counter can be countered. If Zarya lands two or more people in Graviton Surge, the combo all but declares victory.

Ana

• Ana's healing enables mega aggressive play for Zarya. Anti-Nade also helps to get elims the Tanks that Zarya struggles to beat without the anti-healing effect. Nano Boost on a high energy Zarya just demolishes the enemy team. Most heroes can’t run away fast enough even if they see the glowing Zarya coming at them. Moreover, Zarya can save her Ana from enemy flankers (who Ana is weak to), with a well-timed Projected Barrier.

The primary way to counter Zarya on any role is to avoid giving her charge and figure out her bubble usage patterns. If she always bubbles early, wait it out then go aggressive. Does the Zarya panic bubble her allies as soon as you look at them? Attack Zarya herself now that doesn't have any left for herself. Sometimes going for a brief retreat and reposition can allow Energy decay to kick in, which then allows your Tank to take less damage in the recontest.

Specific Hero Counters

Ramattra

• No matter how high Charge Zarya is, she’s not killing Ram while he’s blocking if his Supports are healing him. Zarya also struggles to get charge from Ram because he can easily shield or block during bubbles. Between Nemesis Form's speed boost and Vortex’s slowing effect, Ram can easily chase Down Zarya when she attempts to recover behind cover between bubbles.

Widowmaker

• Zarya simply doesn't have any counterplay to a good Widowmaker. Obviously, Zarya can’t kill Widow from long distance, but Zarya also can’t reliably help her team stay alive against Widow either.

Mei

• Mei countering Zarya depends on who can outplay the other. If an Ice Wall cuts off Zarya from her team, it's pretty much a guaranteed elim, or will trade your one cool down for both bubbles, and a ton of Zarya's Supports' abilities. The Slow effect of Endothermic Blaster is a really strong punish against a Zarya caught without a self bubble available. The danger for Mei is that if she messes up her Ice Wall, Zarya's close-range damage far exceeds Mei's close-range primary fire.

Baptiste

• Against Zarya's big fight winning ultimate, simply placing an Immortality Field around a corner can keep his entire team alive. Baptiste's poke damage is also high enough to force out bubbles. When bubbling an ally trying to engage an enemy Baptiste, he has so many survivability tools he likely won’t be defeated and you’ll be out a bubble.